Going Back To Basics: Part 3

If your brand is difficult to use, it doesn't matter how great your value proposition is, consumers will look for another alternative that they believe is easier to use.

A few years ago, I launched a Bartender Training Program focused primarily on our Luxury Portfolio (although it covered the entire portfolio) as the first step for bartenders before they could enter into the Advanced Bartender Competition.

When I started, I didn't really have a clue and we made some mistakes, but I'm very proud that I was able to train over 2,000 Bar Staff across Nigeria in the first year of running that program.

Why am I sharing this with you? I promise, it's not just to brag... :) I was overseeing a category (Ultra-Premium Spirits) that was traditionally difficult to buy into because consumers just didn't know what to do with it or how to enjoy the brands in a stress-free way.

With beer, it was easy - all consumers needed to do was make it cold, pop open the cover, pour it into a glass and enjoy a cool, refreshing drink.

With Juice or Fizzy drinks, it was also easy - chill it, pop it open, pour it into a glass and enjoy a cool, refreshing drink.

With an Energy Drink or an alcho-pop, it is also easy - chill it, pop it open, pour it into a glass and enjoy a cool drink.

Quite Simply four steps and the only external factor is the glass. Stay with me...

Now my category was Spirits. Very few people drink spirits straight, especially in certain occasions; and this is where the questions tend to begin:

• What do I mix this drink with that will make it taste nice?
• How much should I pour so that the taste of the mixer doesn't overshadow the taste of the drink?
• How much ice do I put in the glass so it doesn't water down the whole thing?
• Do I chill the bottle or just chill the mixer? Does the bottle freeze if it's placed in the fridge?
• What if I mix it with the wrong drink?
• Must I garnish it like I see in those cocktail pictures? With what?
• I don't have the right tools to mix this drink!

And on and on the questions kept on rolling in. Remember that we spoke about how consumers usually go through their shopping experience in default mode and so when the brain sees all these types of questions, guess what it does? It immediately activates SURVIVAL MODE and safely guides the consumers to familiar territory.

The solution: EDUCATE your consumers or your target audience! For us, we had to teach our consumers how to enjoy our portfolio by making it very easy for them. We gave out complimentary mixers to encourage 'perfect serves', we produced neck tags that had menus you could make at home, with measurements and instructions and occasionally, we gave out some tools to the consumers to reward them.

Now, let us take a look at your own product or service - how can you teach your target audience how to use what you're offering them? If you are bringing a new brand of cashew nuts to the market for example, do you want to offer a few nuts as samples? That's a way of education which is demonstrating the benefits of your brand.

If you are launching a service, communicate the results they will get if they work with you and explain the "framework" you will use to get those results.

Another way of education is to think about things they can take home with them which drives home the point - in my case, I used attractive menu cards with beautiful imagery and clear instructions and hung them onto the bottles; so that it was easy for them AND because it was so attractive, they would flip through it at least once, even if it's for the images..

Videos are a great way to educate, especially if you're on social media. You can be creative by demonstrating the value or the benefits your target consumers will get from your product or service.

Finally, please take the time to research and study your ideal client, their problems and the possible solutions you can offer.

Finally (plus one!) - please remember that different people need to be educated differently. So if I use my example, the people in the store were educated at a level that they could understand and same with the Bar Staff.

However, as you enter into senior leadership levels of your career, you will also need to educate your peers, your associates and your leadership team, and you'd need to craft your message to be relevant to that audience.

I hope this was helpful to you and I am interested to know how you intend on educating your consumers and shoppers on your product or service. Please share with me below!

Until next time,

B.T